‘Dull’ David Duchovny gets a kicking from the critics

New York critics have thoroughly and gleefully slated former X Files star David Duchovny for his 'dull' debut in a new Broadway play, Neil LaBute's The Break of Noon.

Despite drawing a number of A-list celebrities to the opening night, including his former X Files co-star Gillian Anderson and comic actor Ben Stiller, Duchovny has failed to impress members of the Broadway literati.

New York Daily News theatre critic Joe Dziemianowicz describes Duchovny's turn as John Smith, a man who finds God after surviving a mass shooting, as "colourless and dull".

"His long opening monologue, in which Smith recalls the deadly shooting, has all the dynamism of bland hospital broth," adds Dziemianowicz. "He seems disengaged, even though, ironically, his presence is responsible for the production's extended run."

Frank Scheck of the New York Post rips into Duchovny's "bland, deadpan performance" and the New York Times critic Ben Brantley said that he "does admirably by his opening monologue but then fails to find enough variation to hold our attention".

Even the Break of Noon after-show party got a bad review, with the society column of the Wall Street Journal painting a very sad picture indeed.

"Platters of wrap sandwiches - in several different varieties, at least - were laid adjacent to cookie plates featuring actual Oreos," said Marshall Heyman.

"The spread was reminiscent of a quickly organised bris [a Jewish circumcision ceremony], and it was especially poignant to watch the celebrities, no doubt used to more swanky affairs, wrestling with it."

Duchovny, who did prove his mettle earlier this year by netting the Golden Globe for his role as Hank Moody in Californication, is the latest in a long line of Hollywood stars to have a go on Broadway.

It doesn't always end happily, as Julia Roberts discovered when she starred in Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain in 2006. The same Ben Brantley branded her performance as "stiff with self-consciousness, only glancingly acquainted with the two characters she plays". ·